I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this experience with Acura- In April of 2001 I bought a NEW CL-S with 9 miles on it. Later I saw that the passenger side door was about a 1/4 inch our of alignment, and that the qtr panel had a lot of swirl marks. I took it back to the dealer in July of 01 and they could not adjust the door, but suggested I take it to their bodyshop. The bodyshop was booked up and is a long way from where I live and I am very busy. I waited until I had a few other warranty items to be fixed and took it in to another dealer that is closer to my home last week to have them all fixed at once. They told me that the door doesn't fit because the car has been repaired, and told me that it has been repainted. They did not want to fix the door under warranty because it was not a manufacturer's defect since it looks like that area has been damaged and repaired. I have since had a bodyshop and a professional appraiser look at the car, and they both showed me where there was overspray and dirt in the paint indicating that the passenger side front fender, door, and qtr panel had been repainted. I called the owner of the dealership where I purchased the car and they said they don't know anything about it, but that it may have happened during shipping and the shipping company just fixed it and didn't say anything. Acura's customer service people say that they don't have any record of any repairs, but they don't track the car after it has been shipped. I have never put so much as a scratch on the car and have never had ANY bodywork done on it.

Now I've got a car that is not worth as much as it would be if it had not been repainted, and the door does not fit. Acura at this point doesn't seem at all concerned that they did not disclose this prior damage to me, although they were sure to get a disclosure of any prior damage on the car I traded in to them.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? If any of you guys with tranny problems have the name and number of any high-ups at Acura, I would certainly appreciate the info. I don't want the car any more, I want my money back. The only reason I buy new cars is to make sure that there is no history on them of repairs.

 

Call me crazy....but i think you could take them to the cleaners for pulling a stunt like that. It doesn't matter whether they knew or not (bullshit...bless you!) you paid for a new car. You get a new car. I wouldn't take that lying down at all!!!

Tell me if i'm wrong guys...but i don't think this is even contestable...you got gipped big time. Raise hell.

 

SUE

 

Believe it or not, we do not know it, but a lot of new cars get messed up during shipping and just get fixed and we never know of it.

 

There was a case of this happening in Alabama to a lawyer who purchased a "new" 540. The initial court awarded him some absurd sum of millions. Apparently they based the $$$ on the number of BMW repainted and total value lost and the fine was apparently more to punish BMW than award the plantiff. Regardless, the plantiff was awarded somewhere north of $10 million if I remember correctly. However, an appeals court reduced the award to something like a few hundred thousand I think. I don't remember the final outcome though. Anyone else here remember?

Or anyone here have access to Lexis? (Is that what the legal research directory is called?)

 

 

I'd consult with a lawyer.

 

Yep talk to a lawer, however, unless you have proof the dealer, or shipper painted/fixed it, it will be very hard to win. Yes you say you didn't do any damage, & also don't really have proof of that. It boils down to your word verses there's. Put in your vin at the dealer, & have them pull up all the cars history. If they did log it into the computer when they painted it, it would be there. Of course if they didn't then your back to square one.

 

That dealer should take the car back no questions asked.